This date night post has been brought to you by Foodie. All opinions are mine.

Valentine's Day is just a few days away! While going out to a restaurant with your love is great, the good places are always so crowded on V Day. Two years ago, we went to a popular restaurant before 5 and there was already a 2 hour wait. And people were actually waiting! I couldn't believe it. Right then I decided that going out to eat was not going to happen on Valentine's Day for a long, long time. I'd rather maximize my baby-sitting time and having someone watch my kids while I sat and waited to be able to *enter* a restaurant for TWO hours is just insane. Maybe for dating couples who can sit and stare in each other's eyes and not have any other care int he world, but definitely not for me!

It's nice just to stay in and enjoy a meal, just the two of us. Sure there is cooking involved, but cooking is a labor of love for me. I absolutely love being able to cook something that I know Hubby will enjoy! I have collected 12 delicious date night dinners, all perfect for a romantic meal on Valentine's Day, or any date night.

Valentine’s Day is a special day of the year whether you are young or old. It’s a day to celebrate love and friendship. Jennifer Carver, of Spaceships and Laser Beams, is here to share some kid-friendly ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Relationships are important to children, just as they are to adults. Allowing children to acknowledge the special people in their life is a great way to help them celebrate the day. This can be accomplished in a variety of fun and festive ways.

Idea #1: Arrange a Valentine making station. Gather blank greeting cards, envelopes, Valentine’s Day themed stickers, colorful trims in red, pink and purple, buttons and scraps of paper. Create a crafting station with printables, scissors, glue, adhesive and plenty of markers and pens. Help the children make a list of special friends and family members they’d like to remember on Valentine’s Day.

Idea #2: Organize a service scavenger hunt. Children enjoy doing small acts of service to show love. Have your children brainstorm a list of appropriate tasks they can do to show love for others. Some ideas include:

Idea #3: Plan a “heart attack”. No, not that kind of heart attack. This kind of heart attack involves creating a copious variety of paper hearts on which the children write down favorite memories or thoughtful words to describe the individual (or family) being “heart attacked”. Once the hearts are created and filled out, the children carefully attach them to a neighbor’s or teacher’s windshield or doorframe as a fun surprise! The finished product looks like a bunch of hearts staged an attack. Consider this a nicer alternative to the toilet papering days of old!

Idea #4: Visit a nursing home. If you live close enough to a nursing home, take older children to visit some of the residents who might be lonely. Take a Bingo game (you can print free versions off the internet) and boxes of conversation hearts to use as game markers for a fun Valentine’s Day themed twist. Residents will love the visit!

Idea #5: Decorate Valentine’s Day themed cookies. Children love cookies, especially when they are in charge of decorating them! Bake or buy a batch of your favorite sugar cookies. Line and fill a muffin tin with cookie toppings like sprinkles, cinnamon hearts, sanding sugar and chocolate chips for decorating. Fill disposable frosting bags with tinted frosting. Then, let the kids go crazy decorating cookies to eat and share with friends. Set aside a plate or two of cookies to wrap up and take to someone of the children’s choosing. This could be a great friend, wonderful teacher or lonely neighbor.

What are some of your kid-friendly Valentine’s Day activities? Add your own and make it a day your children will not soon forget!

One of the boys' favorite book characters is Curious George. How can you resist this lovable, mischievous little monkey? One book we like to read this time of year is Happy Valentine's Day, Curious George!

I love crafts that the boys can create on their own, and this is definitely one of them! Enjoy making this valentine craft for kids as you prepare for the fun day!

You will then want to help your child carefully trace the shapes on to the yellow felt. The yellow felt will serve as a backing to the banana and will make the valentine more durable. The yellow felt will also work as the banana’s peel as you continue to assemble your valentine.

Cut out the shapes on the yellow felt. For this job, you may want to take the reigns since felt can be a little tricky to cut.

Once you have everything cut, it is time to start the fun part – putting it all together!

On a flat surface, glue the construction paper banana shape onto the felt version. Then, on top of the construction paper banana, glue the felt banana peel.

Use glue to tack down the edges of the peel so it looks as if the banana has been peeled down.

Once everything is glued down, take either a thin tip marker or pen and write your chosen valentine's day message.

Finally, use a brown marker to draw a heart, or even a monkey if you’re feeling ambitious, in the space between your valentines message and your child’s name.

Valentine's Day is coming up quickly, and to celebrate, I bring you the Valentine’s Day Forget Me Nots Giveaway Hop hosted by MamaNYC! This is a HUGE event with lots of prizes to be won, all worth $25 or more. This event will run until February 14th, which means you will have plenty of time to enter all of our giveaways.

Here at Life With Captain Fussybuckets, you can win a great prize package featuring Sibu and Hallmark!

Enter to win a box of Sibu Seven Omega 7 chocolates, "Until We Hug Again" bear and greeting cards from Hallmark. Enter to win in the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck and Happy Valentine's Day!

When looking for great gifts for any occasion, Hallmark is always the leader for unique, special, sentimental, and/or fun products. Valentine's Day gifts and cards are no exception! The Hallmark card selection is full of anything and everything you could possibly want. They always have cute character cards, as well, that my boys particularly love:

We were sent this "Until We Hug Again" bear to review and I wasn't sure what we should record on it. It came pre-recorded with a sweet message from a grandmother to a grandchild. The bear is, as the name suggests, meant to give to someone who you are away from so they can hear your voice "until we hug again." You simply record a message, give it to the recipient, and they can hug the bear at any time and hear your special message. Well, my husband's grandfather, whom we all loved, died at the end of January and it became clear who this bear was meant to be for! I asked the Captain if he knew anyone who might like this bear, someone that might be sad and he immediately said "Sweet Grandma" (which is what he has called his great grandmother since he was two years old and thought we said "sweet" instead of "great" grandmother.) So, we recorded a message (there is room to record a 30 second message) and presented it to Sweet Grandma the next time we saw her. She absolutely loved it and the boys were thrilled to be able to give it to her.

I LOVE this idea and know that so many people would love and cherish something so sweet and personalized for Valentine's Day, or for no reason at all! The bear is just adorable!

I was worried that because it was so easy to record a greeting, that one of the boys would record over it, but there is a spot in the battery compartment to temporarily "lock" it so you can keep the message for as long as you like. You can even change the message every time you see your special someone!

The "Until We Meet Again" bear sells for $29.95 on the Hallmark website or can be purchased at Hallmark Gold Crown Stores around the country.

Check out all of the great products Hallmark has to offer at the website and stay up to date on news and deals on Twitter and Facebook!

Chocolates are a huge seller on Valentine's Day. I'm sure women around the country willbe getting a box of chocolates, filled with delicious, yet unhealthy treats. I don't think anyone can change the chocolates for Valentine's Day tradition, but you can buy your Valentine a healthier chocolate…one that is actually good for them.

Sibu Beauty makes premium skin care products made from the Himalayan sea buckthorn berry. This berry contains over 190 compounds that restore, revitalize, and protect youthful beauty on the inside and out. They contain fatty acids like Omega 7 that has so many benefits like aiding in digestion, helping you maintain a healthy weight, as well as building healthy skin, hair, and nails.

Sibu has taken the oil from the sea buckthorn berry and brilliantly made these delectable Sibu Seven chocolates. Each box contains sixteen individually wrapped chocolate truffles in two flavors: Orange Milk and Dark Mint. Here is the nutritional information and ingredients:

These truffles provide nutritional support for skin and mucous membranes, powerful free-radical scavenger, increases vitality, and may help prevent weight gain (you can't say that about other chocolates!) They are also certified Kosher.

If you are wondering if these truffles are good, our whole family gives Sibu Seven chocolates a stamp of approval! All of us, even the boys, really loved them. They are decadent and creamy, plus it's nice to know that they are actually healthy, as well!

Purchase your Valentine a box of Sibu Seven chocolates for $17.95 on the Sibu website. Connect with Sibu on Twitter and Facebook, too.

Valentine's Day has always baffled me a bit. I've read the history behind the day and am still baffled how it turned in to what it is today, but hey, that's okay! I think it's sweet for kids to exchange valentines and well, it's just a special day with an excuse to eat candy, right? I would feel a lot better about the massive amounts of candy that the boys will get for V-Day if there wasn't so much junk in them, which is why I was excited to use YumEarth Organics' lollipops to use in the boys' Valentines this year! YumEarth, if you remember from my gummy bears post from Christmas time, is the company that is certified organic, contains real fruit extracts, is kosher, contains no gluten, tree nuts, peanuts, GMO's, dairy, soy, high fructose corn syrup, or artificial colors and dyes. That's something I can celebrate! And now that YumEarth goodies are available at Target stores, they're easily accessible and perfect for Valentine's Day treats!

There are a lot of Valentine kits you can buy at the store, complete with many popular candies, but I didn't want to go buy anything and I wanted the boys to actually make something. I first turned to Pinterest for cute crafts and came up with adorable butterflies made with suckers and those precious photo cards that look like the kid is holding the sucker. But, well, who am I kidding? I'm just not that crafty and kids can be excused for not making the perfect craft….right? So, we opened the craft box and away we went.

Paint, cut, glue, draw…

(You'll notice the vacuum cleaner in the background. That's a must for crafting with the Captain and Baby D!)

After the crafts were made, I simply poked two little holes in the valentines and put the YumEarth Organics lollipops in them! This was the Captain's precious card for Grandma:

And of course the boys had to sample the lollipops while they created their valentines!

This is a Mango Tango lollipop and Baby D loved it!

Our finished products:

Yes, I got into it, too. The Captain and I thought of things to write on the valentines and it was a fun time spent together. And the best part is that the recipients will get an awesome, handcrafted Valentine AND a delicious organic lollipop without junk! What a great combination!

If you're wondering what flavors were in the bag of YumEarth Organics lollipops…here is the mouthwatering list: Mango Tango, Pomegranate Pucker, Very Very Cherry (the Captain's favorite!), Sour Apple Tart, Wet Face Watermelon, Strawberry Smash, and TooBerry Blueberry. You'd be surprised at how GOOD these lollipops are. You will find that you don't need the extra junk that your other favorite candies probably contain. I'm so proud of YumEarth Organics for making good, quality candy that can be enjoyed without wondering what is in it!

You can purchase your bag of 30+ YumEarth lollipops from Target for $6.99 or Amazon for $5.59. Visit YumEarth's website and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all the latest yummy news!

Valentine's Day is coming up quickly…in a month, exactly, from today! I had a few minutes to spare, so I went to Pinterest to look for some super cute Valentine's Day crafts that we could make! Check out what I pinned:

We are a family of five living in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area. Daddy, Mommy (Gena,) Captain Fussybuckets, age 6, D, age 4, and Baby Brother! I love to blog about our life and daily adventures, stuff we love, going green, and much, much more. Thanks for visiting!